Kowloon seems to exist outside/before these restrictions, and might therefore feel more "free" in some way. It might also be why fantasy/science fiction fantasy tends to take place in a slightly more "lawless" and uninhibited world.
I doubt most of the people who lived there felt that way. There were rules enforced by the powerful people living there, it just wasn’t enforced formally via laws. Instead, strongmen imposed their own rules.
When I say “free” and “uninhibited”, I am talking only about the mind playing with fantasy, not the actual lived experience of residents
And the resulting pest presence yes. Yuck :)
>Medical and dental care were no problem at all: many of the residents were doctors and dentists with Chinese qualifications and years of experience but lacking the expensive pieces of paper required to practise in the colony. They set up their neat little clinics in the City, oases of cleanliness and order, and charged their patients a fraction of what they would pay outside.
Source: City Of Darkness: Life In Kowloon Walled City (1993)